This fabric has a lot less stretch than my first pair, but I have lost some weight over the last few months, so I cut the same size as before with all my prior adjustments. I had to take in the side seams a little more once constructed to get the close fit I was after. I’m getting similar wrinkles all over the back leg to last time which may mean that a low butt or full back thigh adjustment is needed next time.

Like last time I added a stay into the front and swapped the button fly for a simple zip. I followed Charlie’s recent tutorial for getting a sharp corner on the waistband: I’ve done this so many times now but it’s always good to sense-check your approach with how someone else gets good results, and I like the simple steps she recommends a lot.

The sweater is the famous and much-loved Strathcona by Good Night Day. Fun fact, I used to be an extremely prolific knitter in my early 20s but it really fell by the wayside once I got into sewing – I just don’t have the patience to see a long project through and I’ve eagerly started many sweaters in the interim years only to abandon them partway. However the Strathcona is both super-chunky and very small (thanks to the shrunken fit and 3/4 sleeves) and literally worked up so fast that I didn’t have time to run out of steam once. I had it finished over a week of very casual knitting sessions and it really just worked up in front of my eyes.

I feel like while I still have the basic muscle memory for knitting and can follow instructions with ease, I have lost a lot of finesse with getting good tension and techniques, so the sweater isn’t that amazingly well made. In particular I’m annoyed that the M1 technique I used (the pattern doesn’t give a specific technique) has left uneven lacy holes down the raglan armsyces which I’d prefer would look solid – I’m wearing a black tee underneath here as it looks pretty weird otherwise. I did a pick-up-and-knit-tbl but I think kfb would have been better.

I made the smaller size of the pattern and I like the fit being a bit snugger than how it looks in the pattern photos and on other people. I tried it on regularly (the joys of top-down knitting) to check the body and sleeve length and ended both with a deeper layer of ribbing than in the pattern (12 rows instead of 4). The yarn is Debbie Bliss Roma, a chunky wool/alpaca blend which I bought from LoveCrafts – I only used 4 balls!

The pants are the first project I’ve completely sewn on my new machine by the way – I was lucky enough to get a Pfaff Ambition 630 for my birthday back in January. It coped more than admirably and I will be writing up some more detailed thoughts on the machine soon if you’re interested. Here’s to more isolation-sewing, and maybe even knitting…

All right, one last fun little make before I sign off for Christmas. This dress just makes me happy! It all came together quite organically and turned out exactly how I planned in my head. I needed that after coat-gate and a lot of selfless Christmas stitching.

I used the BHL Holly bodice, sized up to a 14 like my previousones for a looser fit, and popped in a metal zip instead of buttons. Gotta love a TNT bodice and all the variations it can give you once the fit is perfected.

THIS FABRIC THOUGH. 1.5m of it accidentally slipped into my Shaukat shopping cart when I ordered some Liberty fabrics for Christmas gifts. It’s called Peter Woodward and omg it has tiny manga-style lions, dragons and unicorns all over it. I love how it’s basically a total novelty print but the muted colourway keeps it quite subtle. Looking down at those happy little animal faces really makes me smile though.

The skirt is simply the width of the fabric gathered to fit at the top – I didn’t have enough yardage for anything else. Tana lawn is about 53″ wide so it’s a slimmer fit than I usually make with gathered skirts but I like the resulting shape a lot. It does hella cling to tights though, I need to buy/make a slip.

The zip was a last minute decision. I was going to do buttons on the bodice ending at the waist, but thought a metal zip might offset the cute-factor of the print a bit. There are no other fastenings on the dress, so undoing the zip does give a bit of extra wiggle room to get in and out of it.

OK, I think that’s me out for now – off for some family time and hoping Santa brought me all the sewing goodies I asked for. Have a great one, everyone!